Friday, January 21, 2011

The other night, wine importer Joe Dressner was honored by a large group of his colleagues, clients, and friends. To be honored by the people who one actually works with - that is a very high honor. And it is well deserved in this case. Joe and his partners are creative and highly intelligent about the growers and producers they work with. Joe believes in wines that many people would dismiss as too hard to sell, too "weird," too esoteric. But they are fine and very fairly priced wines that in many cases inspire almost fanatical loyalty among their many fans, and they are here for us to enjoy because Joe and his partners staked everything on them.

As you already know if you follow Joe's blog or interact with him in the wine business, Joe is recovering from his second major brain surgery. As would be expected, he hasn't been gallivanting about town lately. It was great to see him the other night - everything is the same, I'm glad to report. Same sharp wit, same appreciation of good wine and food, same general attitude, same Joe. Mentally, anyway. I'm sure he feels like utter crap a lot of the time.

It was a great party. Lots of people turned up with interesting and fantastic bottles of Dressner wine. I'm talking about 1991 and 1992 (I think) Domaine de la Pépière Muscadet, several vintages of Clos Rougeard, including a phenomenal 1997 Saumur-Champigny Les Clos, 1997 and 2000 Thomas-Labaille Sancerre Cuvée Buster Les Monts Damnés, 2001 Houillon/Overnoy Savagnin, and more. Our gracious host made a vat of delicious mushroom and shrimp risotto. Some one recently back from Italy one brought a wonderful sausage. Some one else brought some lovely cheeses. Some one else smoked a wagyu brisket. Another guy wore a special shirt.

Thank you Joe, for the many years of work you've done to make it so that I can buy and share world class wines with my friends and family. I, and I'm sure all of my readers (except that woman at a tasting who you wouldn't allow to try the Ulysse Collin after she said the Larmandier-Bernier was too dry) wish you improved health and comfort in the coming years. We're glad that you're here with us!